When the world’s best players arrived in Australia, the only realistic talk of a 21st Grand Slam was directed at Novak Djokovic, visa issues permitting.
Quite how Djokovic might have fared had the Australian authorities not intervened will remain the great unknown but Rafael Nadal, for all his past brilliance, had done little to suggest he was the man to take the outright Grand Slam record ahead of Djokovic and Roger Federer.
Now, the Spaniard is a match away from achieving that feat after a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win over Matteo Berrettini.
Nadal had to give up his 2021 season in early August because of a foot injury which as recently as November he and his team feared was on the verge of ending his career.
His return in Abu Dhabi before Christmas was inauspicious, the 35-year-old struggling with Covid and raising further question marks about his participation at the Australian Open.
But he won his warm-up event and, in the opening two sets against Berrettini, produced arguably his best tennis all tournament, giving his Italian opponent barely a sniff of an opportunity.
Targeting the Berrettini backhand, he looked to be cruising to a straight-sets win under the roof as the rain came down in Melbourne, before Berrettini went for the big shots in the third set to force his way back into the match.
It took him over two hours to have a break point on Nadal’s serve and it was apt he should convert it with his trademark forehand winner.
The sense that it might force the 25-year-old back into the contest was relatively shortlived. While he again put pressure on the Nadal serve in set four, he couldn’t convert it and the Spaniard got the sole break after which he served out the match.
Afterwards, Nadal said: “I started the match playing great. The first two sets were the best in a long time. He played some great shots. It means a lot to me to be in the final here today.”
It marks his sixth Australian Open final and his first since 2019. His last five final participations, however, have seen him lose – his sole Australian Open title coming back in 2009.
Of making his 29th Grand Slam final, he said: “I never thought about another chance in 2022. I’m just going to enjoy myself.”
To get to the magical tally of 21, Nadal needs to overcome Daniil Medvedev, who was formidable in winning the later semi-final 7-6 3-6 6-4 6-1 against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas had played some of his best tennis in the match but allowed his high standards to slip as tiredness and the fortitude of groundstrokes kicked in.
Despite their parents being close friends, Medvedev and Tsitsipas have endured a frosty relationship and the Russian reacted angrily in losing the second set, accusing his rival’s father Apostolos of illegally coaching his son from the players’ box.
Medvedev’s angry rebuke to umpire Jaume Campistol came after he was given a code violation for an obscenity. It did, however, lead to another umpire being placed under the players’ box, and a subsequent coaching warning to Tsitsipas early in the third set.
It coincided with a dip in intensity from the Greek from which he never really recovered.
Referring to his earlier outburst, Medvedev said: “I don’t think that the emotions helped me too much. Many times I lose a match because of it… you lose too much energy. I’m happy I managed to re-concentrate for the beginning of the third set.”
